Topic: Glasgow curry base sauce

[stevejet66]

Too right dal, beat's watching tv too!

[Micky Tikka]

I reckon I can fill my bath full of onions

[mr.mojorisin]

this isn't a typical Glasgow base but it is the one from the T/A where BB1 works and as he was good enough to at least put some time and effort in, I thank you BB1
no different to any other city, there are many different regional/racial variations and methods therefore you cannot label this as typical Glaswegian.
I've seen 6 or 7 different kitchens cooking curries and all are using the "runny" garabhi which we all make.
BB1s base is slightly different but this doesn't make it wrong. IMO its excellent.easy to make. curries are easy to create from resulting base.
a winner in my eyes
many thanks again BB1

[walleye]

Still scared of the cocoanut  in the base

[harley]

Little suspicious of Martinwhynot coming out of nowhere. Reads like the same person or a friend.

Sorry if not the case.

[Martinwhynot]

Harley,

I wasn't going to dignify your comment with a response but, due to the language and undermining going on in this thread I feel duty bound to:

I 'came from nowhere' onto this forum in 2007...feel free to check.  I also checked: and you, you old veteran, joined 4 years afterwards in 2011.  Please feel free to be 'sorry!' This may come as a shock but just because I haven't posted much doesn't mean I'm clueless or have no experience, just no questions. That in turn infers that i know what im doing or am eased with rubbish results; either way im happy! Look at my posts - the ones I do make (apparat from a couple of 'defensive' ones recently) are congratulatory or complimentary.

Every time a finger gets pointed and then taken away when people back it up with compliments Nd even photos, the flippin' arguement gets changed! Can people stop throwing up ever-changing crud onto this post and either cook it and comment or ignore it.

I'm beginning to see why there are always more guests watching from a distance here than actually registered users online - they don't need body armour and have to put up with this nonsense!

I urge you all to stop embarrassing yourselves in public.

[haldi]

Here's the recipe, do try it and tell me what you think.

A jug of oil
a string's length of cinnamon
a hamster's chuff of green cardamoms
A gnat's fart of asafoetida
Two monkey's buttocks' worth of red stuff
A scant whale's scrotum of chilli powder
Equal measures of coriander and cumin, about as much as will fit into the tyre tread of a bicycle wheel
Half An elizabeth II silver jubilee egg cup of some other stuff.
Throw it all in a pan and cook it for a bit.

 :

is this a scaled down version?

[Cory Ander]

I made a "full size" (i.e. 7kg) version of BB1's curry base, exactly as specified.  I added 3 litres of water to the onions (which, as specified, half filled my stock pot).

It yielded about 11 litres of curry base.

I also made BB1's precooked chicken (but a one quarter sized portion and cooked for only 15 minutes rather than for the 1 hour specified)

I also made BB1's Chicken Curry (exactly as specified).

I took "1 heaped chef's spoon" to be equal to 60ml (as confirmed by BB1)

Here are the photos:

7kg of onions (unpeeled weight) plus spices and water:



After simmering the onions in water until soft and reduced:



After adding the oil:



After adding all the other ingredients and simmering for one and a half hours:



After blending:



After simmering again for 1 hour:



After standing:



Precooked chicken:



Cooking the chicken curry (single portion):



The finished chicken curry (plus about 60ml of excess oil that was removed):



The finished chicken curry:



Comments and observations:

• The final curry base was quite a bit darker than the photo seems to show.  It smells and tastes quite pleasant (but not sufficiently flavoured, to my mind, to constitute a "curry sauce").  It is quite sweet.  The coconut block isn't particularly discernable (flavour wise) apart from giving the base a degree of creaminess.  The base is a bit greasy on the palate; probably due, in large part, to the large amount of oil present, and partly due to the creamed coconut block (I have found this before when adding quite a bit of coconut block to a curry base
• The precooked chicken had a nice flavour (quite smokey)
• The basic chicken curry was interesting.  It released a fair amount of oil (much of which - about 60ml worth - I spooned off).  But an amount of it came from the precooked chicken (and its sauce) that I added.  The oil wasn't particularly flavoursome, nor did it have much of an aroma.  The final dish was quite greasy on the pallate, but otherwise enjoyable.  The texture was more "congealed" than I am used to (as can be seen from the photos)

The chicken curry was enjoyable.  I will certainly use the remaining base up.  But I doubt that I would make it again. 

Perhaps it's just that I am not familiar with this type of curry (Punjabi?  Pakistani?) cooking.  But it's not particularly like that with which I am familiar (i.e. Bangladeshi/Bengali). 

I have also never eaten a curry in Scotland.

OK, I won't add any more comments or observations, because I am sure I will be criticised and attacked for them. 

A huge thanks for posting your recipes, BB1, they are an enjoyable change from the norm on the forum.  And you seem to have made some of our Scottish friends very happy 

[RubyDoo]

...................and your verdict is CA ? 

[Martinwhynot]

CA,

Thanks for posting. The finished curry looks really good. Interested to know if you felt it is similar to any BIR you've tasted before, even if not to your personal taste?

The residue oil is interesting also as my results were less oily than this? I'm trying your base at some point soon too as I do like the curries 'down south' too!

Regards

Martin